Close Encounters of the Magical Kind Page 16

  A gust of wind buffeted them, forcing her to close her eyes. She had seen them rapidly descending into the heart of the cloud and decided she didn’t want to watch. Until she could feel solid ground under her feet she had no desire to see what was transpiring around her.

  Sarah grunted with surprise as she felt Tesur collide with something. Something solid. Were they on land? Had they arrived safely? She cautiously cracked open an eye to see for herself.

  Both eyes snapped open. Tesur had been right. This was no cloud. The watery mists had finally disappeared, revealing that which Tesur had seen all the way back from the Arch. Sarah whistled with amazement.

  Had she not just ridden on the back of a griffin she would have thought she was still on the ground. The floating island of Ranal stretched endlessly away in all directions. She could see no discernible borders anywhere on the island. She turned to look behind her. The jungle setting they were in the midst of seamed to stretch on and on. Confused, she twisted around in her seat in order to take in as much of the area as possible. If this was a floating island then she should have been able to see its borders. After all, Ranal was, by Sarah’s estimate, at least several thousand feet up in the air. There was no evidence to indicate they were suspended in the air. It looked – and felt – like they were back on the ground.

  Sarah dismounted. She watched her husband reach into one of his trouser pockets and pull out the small wood carving he’d been carrying ever since he had become weightless. Gareth had given it to him with the explicit instructions not to use until they had arrived at their destination. The spell he had placed on Steve, the young wizard had explained, was a one-time shot. Once the spell was invoked for the second time then his full weight would return. Her husband clutched the tiny wood castle to his chest, mumbled something, and immediately stumbled to the ground. Alarmed, Sarah rushed to his side.

  “Are you okay? What’s the matter?”

  Steve glanced up at her and winced.

  “Wow, I’m more of a lardbutt than I originally thought. Have you ever been on a trampoline?”

  “What?”

  “A trampoline. Ever been on one?”

  Sarah nodded, “Yes. Why?”

  “Do you remember what it felt like when you jumped off?”

  Smiling, Sarah nodded again.

  “Ah. Gotcha. You need to get acclimatized to the presence of gravity again.”

  “Exactly. Gravity. Thou art a heartless b-”

  “Hey!” Sarah interrupted, cutting her husband off before he could finish his sentence. “I don’t like that word.”

  “Bully. I was gonna say ‘bully’.”

  “Sure you were.”

  Her husband finally rose to his feet and looked around. He gasped with surprise.

  “I don’t know what I was expecting, but this sure wasn’t it.”

  Sarah gazed wordlessly at the expanse before her and had to agree. Never in her wildest dreams had she ever seen a setting as beautiful as this. A single word sprang to mind: utopia.

  Directly in front of them was a large pool of clear azure water the likes of which she hadn’t ever seen before. She could see every detail inside the pool, all the way down to the swaying bed of lush green underwater plants covering the floor. The pool, Sarah noticed, was being fed by the runoff from a second pool, located at a slightly higher elevation and a little further back. That pool, in turn, was being fed by three different pools, each at higher elevations and different locations.

  Sarah slowly spun in place. Pools were everywhere! Since the landscape’s topography fluctuated drastically, small bodies of water had collected everywhere they could and, as a result, created dozens of pools in their line of sight. Due to the abundance of water on the island, thick lush foliage was everywhere. The closest Sarah had ever come to seeing greenery like this was when she and Steve had taken a vacation to Hawaii a few years ago and even then those tropical rainforests they visited were nothing compared to this. She turned to her husband to judge his reaction. Steve’s mouth was moving but no sound was coming out. Sarah leaned close.

  “What was that?”

  “I was saying that we have our work cut out for us. We’re supposed to find a specific flower amongst all that? Can we say ‘needle in a haystack’? Babe, this is impossible!”

  “Nothing’s impossible,” Sarah corrected. “We’re here. The flower is here somewhere. We just need to find it. Perhaps if we…”

  Sarah trailed off. For the first time since they had arrived on the island Sarah noticed they weren’t alone. Large prone figures were lying so still that Sarah’s eyes had skipped right over all of them, not to mention the fact that many of the creatures had blended right in with the surrounding environment.

  Griffins. Dozens, if not hundreds, of avian eyes were watching them. They were everywhere. The magnificent winged creatures were lying next to pools, resting in trees, and even sitting complacently on the ground. All of them, Sarah noted with dismay, were watching them.

  Sarah turned to Tesur just as their elderly griffin guide hurried past them. Tesur was angling for a thick, multi-branched tree that had one large limb in particular stretching out over a nearby pool. Resting comfortably on the limb, gazing down at her, was a silver-winged griffiness with streaks of dark charcoal gray running through her fur. The female griffin was tracking their movements, all without moving a muscle.

  “Why aren’t they moving?” Steve whispered.

  Sarah noticed his hands had turned dark red and instantly took his hands in hers.

  “Absolutely not. You will not torch anything here. We are the intruders. Remember that.”

  “You just make sure you tell that to them,” Steve grumbled.

  The exact moment Tesur arrived at the tree the reclining griffiness finally stirred. She silently jumped down to the ground and placed herself directly in Tesur’s path. Sarah wiped tears from her eyes as she watched Tesur gently touch his beak to that of the griffiness.

  “Salana. It’s you. I’ve waited so long.”

  The griffiness bowed.

  “Tesur. I was beginning to lose hope. I feared you would be denied passage. We all did.”

  Tesur ruffled his feathers nervously, “Why?”

  Salana took a step to the right and peered around her mate’s body. She locked eyes on Sarah and stared, unblinking at her, forcing Sarah to take a few steps back. Steve automatically pulled her behind him and stepped in front, shouldering the withering look Salana was giving him.

  “If you want to get mad at someone then you can be mad at me,” Steve announced. “I’m the one that got us here. I’m the fire thrower. If you want to pick on someone then pick on me.”

  “Be at peace, fire thrower,” Salana gently told him. “You are in no danger from us.”

  “But we are in danger from someone else?” Sarah asked, peering around Steve’s body.

  “In a matter of speaking,” the griffiness informed her. “All here can feel it. You have violated the laws of Ranal. This island is for griffins only. Humans were never meant to step foot on this sacred land. I fear doing so may have caused irreparable harm.”

  “We were told to come here,” Sarah insisted. “We have to find a flower. As soon as we do, then we’ll go. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t important.”

  Steve held up his hands in mock surrender.

  “Hey guys, we come in peace. Look, you don’t want us here. We don’t want to be here. We get it. This place is for griffin eyes only. However, we are here on some friends’ behalf. We have to find a flower that will restore a tree. As luck would have it this flower only exists somewhere on this island. Will you let us look for it?”

  “It is not for us to decide,” Salana coolly informed him.

  “Then who should we talk to?” Sarah asked.

  “I do not know,” the griffiness admitted.

  “Then how do you know someone else is calling the shots?” Steve countered.

  “You are not a griffin,” Salana answered
, as if that simple statement explained everything.

  Sarah nudged her husband’s shoulder.

  “I think I have it. There’s some type of power governing over this place. We saw proof of its existence during our arrival. It kept us from approaching, remember? Whatever that power is, that’s what dictates what will and will not happen here.”

  “What if this power decides it doesn’t want us here?” Steve asked. “What do you think it could do to us?”

  “Are you kidding?” Sarah exclaimed. “What couldn’t it do to us? We’re on a floating island populated by griffins, remember? The griffins could attack us…”

  “Unlikely,” Tesur quietly added, drawing a neutral stare from his mate. “And please lower your voice.”

  “Or Ranal could revert back to a cloud for us,” Sarah suggested, dropping her voice to a whisper. “We’re up in the air, remember? It’s a long way down to the ground. Don’t you get it? There could be any number of things on this island that we aren’t even aware of that could be detrimental to our very existence.”

  Steve clasped his hands behind his back and began to pace.

  “Let’s look at this logically,” he began.

  “In that case,” Sarah interrupted, “perhaps I should do the talking?”

  Steve snorted, “Cute. Look. We’re here. We’re on Ranal. And we’re still here. What does that tell you?”

  Sarah shrugged, “That whatever this power is has decided to let us stay?”

  “Or else it hasn’t decided what to do with us,” Steve finished.

  “What are you trying to say?” Sarah asked.

  Steve shrugged. “I think as long as we behave ourselves, and don’t intrude on any of the griffins, we’ll probably be allowed to look around.”

  “And when we find that which we’re looking for?” Sarah asked.

  “Then I’d say we should be ready to depart before we do anything, if you catch my meaning.”

  Salana and the rest of the griffins continued to stare silently at the two of them. Sarah swallowed nervously. She recalled the instructions Ria had given her. The orbsceia flower had beautiful golden petals. Two of the plants were allegedly situated by pools. Sarah sighed loudly. This wasn’t going to be easy. This island was far larger than it had looked from the air, there were pools of water everywhere, and no matter where she looked she could see griffins dubiously eyeing her back. Complicating the situation was the fact that the power governing the island was capable of thwarting their progress should she and Steve be classified as threats.

  Sarah glanced up at the sun. There were less than three hours of sunlight left. They were running out of time.

  Chapter 8 – Needle in a Haystack

  “This place is huge,” Steve grumped. “I swear, if I didn’t know any better then I’d say we were on the ground. I mean, look at this!” Sarah watched as her husband pointed south. “There’s no way this is an island. That cloud we approached was nowhere near this big.”

  “Are you sure?” she challenged. “We don’t know how this place works. For all we know this place could act just like Mary Poppins’ purse.”

  “Huh?” Steve asked, turning back to her. “Care to run that by me again?”

  “I know you know what I’m talking about,” Sarah said. “Do you remember when she first arrived and began unpacking? She was pulling all kinds of things out of her bag that would not fit otherwise.”

  “Okay, yeah, I do remember that,” Steve admitted, remembering that the beloved fictional character had pulled potted plants, hat racks, and all manner of items from her small carpet bag.

  “What if this place is like that? The cloud could be just a doorway, or an opening, to this place.”

  Steve frowned, “Do you remember what Tesur said? He didn’t see a cloud but an actual island. Your theory couldn’t possibly be right.”

  “Regardless of what the doorway may look like,” Sarah said, adding air quotes around ‘doorway’, “it’s still just a way to enter this place. Clearly there are powers at play here. Powers way beyond our control. Who knows what could happen here?”

  Steve groaned and ran a hand through his short hair.

  “Ok, let’s assume you’re right. This place is much larger than either of us had expected. You realize that this does not help us, right? How can we expect to find a single flower in this mess?”

  Sarah gazed thoughtfully at the expansive, lush tropics before them. Her husband was right. Thanks to the abundance of water in the myriad of pools found everywhere she looked, with her mind’s eye easily classifying her immediate surroundings as a tropical paradise, she cringed. Lush green grass ringed many of the pools. Exotic orchids and flowering plants were everywhere. Huge trees with trunks covered in dense, green moss were scattered here and there. Even the trees, Sarah noted with dismay, had flowers and plants growing in the soft moss covering their trunks.

  She sighed again. This wasn’t going to be easy. She took her husband’s hand and pulled him away from the disquieting eyes of the nearby griffins.

  “Come on. We might as well get started. We only have a few hours to search and we have a lot of ground to cover.”

  “Only a few hours?” Steve sputtered, casting a quick glance behind to verify they weren’t being followed by the griffins. Thankfully, they weren’t. “Where’d you come up with that?”

  Without breaking her stride, Sarah pointed up at the sun.

  “It won’t be long until sunset. Once the sun goes down, so does our light. We won’t be able to search then. And, you will recall, this is day two. The Fae won’t make it another day. This is our last shot.”

  “Great,” Steve grumbled. “No pressure there.”

  They pushed their way through the thick foliage of low lying tree branches, waded through hip-deep grass that was so soft and luxuriant to the touch that Sarah was thoroughly tempted to stop, and circumnavigated at least a dozen of the pools before they finally came to a stop. Recognizing the hopelessness of the situation, Sarah’s eyes filled. Steve approached and rubbed her back as tenderly as he could.

  “This isn’t looking good, is it?” he asked, lowering his voice to a whisper.

  “No,” Sarah admitted, also talking in a whisper. “It’s freaking me out. Steve, we’ve come so far. We can’t fail now! We have to find that damn flower!”

  Her husband suddenly straightened and looked behind them. Then he pivoted in place and stared up at the nearby trees. The hairs on the back of Sarah’s head suddenly stiffened.

  “What is it?” she asked, certain she wasn’t going to like the answer.

  “I feel like we’re being watched.” Her husband turned to a second nearby tree and clenched his fists. Much to Sarah’s dismay, both of Steve’s hands had turned dark red.

  “No!” she hissed, snatching her husband’s hands and wrapping hers around them. “Are you kidding me? No fires!”

  “There’s something out there,” Steve insisted. “I can just feel it.”

  “Fine. Let whoever, or whatever, it is watch us. Whatever you do, mister, do not use your jhorun. Remember the power of the island? The simple fact that we’re still here suggests it’s okay with our presence. All that goes out the window if we disrupt anything around here.”

  “You don’t know that for certain,” Steve accused.

  “You’re right,” Sarah conceded. “I don’t. However, we’re going to assume it’s true because we don’t want to take any chances, right?”

  Steve scowled and jammed his hands into his pants pockets.

  “Fine. No jhorun.”

  Mollified, Sarah smiled with relief, “Thank y-”

  “But…” Steve interrupted.

  Sarah groaned, “But what?”

  “We need to have some sort of game plan in place in case something happens. What if something does jump out at us? You don’t want me torching it. I’m inclined to agree with you. It’d be in everyone’s best interests if I keep my hands in my pockets. What about you? Do you think you can
use your jhorun here?”

  Sarah nodded, “I know I can. That’s why the Fae contacted me, remember?”

  “No, I don’t mean teleporting. I’m talking about self-defense. Could you use your jhorun to protect us?”

  “Oh.” Sarah thought for a moment. “I think both of our jhoruns would work here, only if I use my jhorun for self-defense, much like you’d use yours, then we’d be in the same pickle. We’d incur the wrath of whatever power controls this island.”

  Steve shrugged, “Got it. No pissing anything off. I guess if anything shows up you’ll just have to teleport us out of the way, huh?”

  That was a good point, Sarah thought. In case something was lurking in the trees and tried to attack them then she ought to have a couple of safe zones ready. She thought back to the clearing where Tesur landed. That should make an adequate…

  She frowned. No mental image was forming within her mind. Concentrating harder, she willed a mental picture to form. It shouldn’t be hard. They were just there half an hour ago. How could she have forgotten what their landing point looked like?

  Try as she might, Sarah was unable to get any picture to form in her mind. Unfortunately, her jhorun’s prerequisite for a successful teleportation jump was a clear image of where she wanted to go. If she couldn’t imagine the destination then she couldn’t teleport there.

  Growing angry, Sarah pulled her husband to a stop, held a finger to her lips before he could protest, glanced directly behind her to study the small grassy knoll they had just traversed, and closed her eyes. The trail of flattened grass was still visible on the small hill. She had just seen it with her own two eyes. Surely she’d be able to recall that image and teleport back to that hill, shouldn’t she?

  Once more she was denied. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t picture any locale on Ranal. Unfortunately, that couldn’t be a coincidence.